Editorial Reviews

Aug 30, 2013: For me, beginning reading Crescendo Cove was like starting off a roller-coaster ride at ground level, only to realize that whoever had designed the ride had used an open pit mine shaft for the ride ground, and no matter how far the car dropped, there was only more yawning blackness beneath me.

Technically, the writing is fine in this story; grammar and sentence construction are good and I rarely spotted a typo. As for the subject matter, however, I think only fans of Gerry Springer or some of the reality TV shows that only seem to exist because of schadenfreude might like this serial.

The storyline follows the exploits of the Bolt family, the wealthy heirs to the Bolt Fasteners business. In the first chapter we’re introduced to the alcoholic drama queen Viv, who’s sleeping with stable hand Burl Hard, the alcoholic second son Daedalus, who apparently has sex with all of the strippers in town, and the youngest son, Steel, who feels he’s better than everyone else, which apparently gives him the right to run the business and the lives of everyone around him. Since everyone in the story only seems to be there to be the butt of jokes, it’s hard to find anyone to root for, especially since everyone in the Bolt family (our nominal protagonists) seems damaged enough to be somewhat deranged.

Also, to the women in the audience, let me warn you that in a number of ways the story comes off as fairly sexist. For example, somehow it’s seen as perfectly all right that Daedalus has sex with innumerable strippers, but Viv having an affair with the stable hand is somehow tarnishing to the Bolt name. Also, those of the female persuasion are likely to quickly tire of the paragraphs (no, I’m not kidding) worth of description that are given to the breasts of the women in the cast. Perhaps here is an appropriate place to suggest to the author that he do some research into the gender of the majority of people who read fiction.

At any rate, reading half of the currently available 34 chapters made me continue to feel like I was on that roller-coaster ride – slightly nauseated, dizzy, wondering when the bottom would come, and then feeling horror as I realized the ride was down all the way. I don’t feel like I can really recommend this story, but for fans of the aforementioned TV shows or those whose sense of humor includes laughing at (rather than with) people, this might be worth your time to check out.

5 of 5 members found this review helpful.
Help us improve!
Register or
log in to rate this review.

Most Helpful Member Reviews

No member reviews yet.

Your review

Register or
log in to rate, recommend, review, or bookmark this story.